Officials Fear Increase in Violence After Gulf Cartel Leader’s Death

Officials in the Mexican government fear an increase in violence in the northeastern border region, following the death of Gulf cartel leader Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, alias Tony Tormenta, reported Mexico’s El Nuevo Diario.

After he was gunned down in a firefight with Mexican police, other drug trafficking organizations such as the rival Zetas may be emboldened to encroach on the Gulf cartel’s operational territory in the region.

Alejandro Poiré, National Security spokesperson, stated in an interview that the government did in fact see a potential for increased violence. “In the longer run, it does generate an instability among organized criminal groups,” Poiré said, “but in the short term, it pulverizes them.”

Ultimately, the spokesman classified Cárdenas’ death as a part of a broader strategy of organizational decapitation: “The capacity to generate leadership is not infinite, and these organizations never remain perfectly intact after taking a hit of this magnitude.”

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